
MR. ALBRO'S DISCOURSE 



ON THE 



FATHERS OE NEW ENGLAND. 



isz-^i-yr 



THE FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED AT CAMBRIDGE, 



DECEMBER 22, 1844 



y 



By JOHN A. ALBRO, 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN CONNECTION WITH 
THE SHEPARD SOCIETY. 




BOSTON: 

CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 
M DCCC XLV. 




Thurston, Tornj, if* Company, Printers, 
31 Devonshire Street, Boston. 



Cambridge, December, 1844. 
Rev. John A. Albro, 
Dear Sir, — Having listened with much pleasure to your Discourse on 
the 22d instant, and esteeming it an honorable tribute to the memory and 
character of our Pilgrim Fathers, and believing the dissemination of its 
principles important, we respectfully request that you will allow it to be 
published. 

Your obedient servants, 

Charles C. Little, 
Zelotes Hosmer, 
Jacob H. Bates, 
Charles W. Homer, 
William Saunders. 
Asa Gray. 



Gentlemen, 

The Discourse, which you do me the honor to think may be useful to the 

public, is at your service ; and I commit it to the press with the prayer that 

He who conducted the Pilgrims to these shores, and sustained them in 

their labors, may make it instrumental in advancing the work which they 

made so many sacrifices to commence in New England. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

JOHN A. ALBRO. 

Messrs. C. C. Little, Zelotes Hosmer, J. H. Bates, ) 
Charles W. Homer, Wm. Saunders, Asa Gray. J 



DISCOURSE. 



PSALM XLIV. 1—3. 

WE HAVE HEARD WITH OUR EARS, O GOD, OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US, WHAT WORK 
THOU DIDST IN THEIR DAYS, IN THE TIMES OP OLD. HOW THOU DIDST DRIVE OUT 
THE HEATHEN WITH THY HAND, AND PLANTEDST THEM ; HOW THOU DIDST AFFLICT 
THE PEOPLE, AND CAST THEM OUT. FOR THEY GOT NOT THE LAND IN POSSESSION 
BY THEIR OWN SWORD, NEITHER DID THEIR OWN ARM SAVE THEM ; BUT THY RIGHT 
HAND, AND THINE ARM, AND THE LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE, BECAUSE THOU 
HADST A FAVOR UNTO THEM. 

Just two hundred and twenty-four years ago this 
day, a ship's company, consisting of about one hundred 
persons, landed upon these shores, then inhabited only 
by wandering savages, and commenced the first per- 
manent, civilized settlement in this part of the world. 
They were soon followed by other and larger compa- 
nies of similar character, driven from their native 
country by the same causes, and having in view the 
same great object. These colonists, among whom the 
names of Bradford, Winslow, Brewster, Carver, Win- 
throp, Endicot, Cotton and Shepard, appear conspic- 
uous, were the political and religious fathers of New 
England. 

It is natural that we, who have entered into their 
labors, and enjoy the fruits of their toil and self- 
denial, should wish to know something respecting 
their character, and to understand the great object 



6 

of their sacrifices. Nay, it is the solemn duty of 
all who call themselves by the name of Puritan, to 
study the history of their fathers with an enlightened 
zeal. It has been too much the fashion in New Eng- 
land, to represent the Pilgrims in a contemptible or 
ridiculous light, and to speak of our institutions, 
both religious and political, as accidental results of ig- 
norance, superstition, and fanaticism. But this is as 
ungrateful as it is absurd. We ought to know better ; 
and the time is not far distant when public opinion and 
feeling will be greatly changed in relation to those 
men. As new dangers threaten our beloved New 
England, and principles and practices subversive of 
our privileges are openly advocated and embraced, 
we shall instinctively turn to the wisdom of the past, 
and examine with increasing interest the grounds 
upon which our liberties and hopes rest ; and all 
sober, intelligent and thoughtful men, whatever may 
be their religious opinions or ecclesiastical relations, 
will see in the Pilgrims, not greedy adventurers nor 
bewildered fanatics, but men chosen of God, and 
wonderfully fitted both intellectually and morally for 
the arduous work of laying the foundation of a great, 
free, and powerful commonwealth, — men who de- 
serve to be held in everlasting remembrance, and 
honored at each returning anniversary by the praises 
of a grateful posterity. 

It will not be unsuitable or unprofitable for us to 
dwell for a few moments this morning upon the 
character, and principles of those from whom we 
have received this fair inheritance ; not merely for 
the sake of celebrating the praises of men, however 
good or great, but of commemorating the work which 



God wrought in their days, and by tlieir agency, and 
of awakening our gratitude to Him from whom 
Cometh every good and perfect gift. 

Our Pilarim Fathers were Encrhshmen, and mem- 
bers, originally, of the church of England. They 
separated from the church in which they were 
born and educated, abandoned their pleasant homes, 
and came to this wilderness, not merely to escape 
from the oppression to which they were subject 
on account of non-conformity to the requirements 
of a religious system which they believed to be in- 
consistent with the purity, freedom, and simplicity of 
the Gospel ; but to erect the tabernacle of God among 
the heathen, according to the pattern shown them in 
the mount ; to build around the altar and church of 
God a religious commonwealth which should be gov- 
erned, not by the blind and capricious will of man, 
but by the law of Christ; and to propagate the 
Gospel among the aborigines of this continent, 
which had never before been visited by the day- 
spring from on high. Let them be the expositors 
of their own principles and designs. " We are 
thankfully to acknowledge," says Gov. Bradford, 
" the great work of God in the reformation made in 
our dear native land ; in which the tyranny and 
power of the pope was cast off, and the purity of 
doctrine in the chief foundations of religion restor- 
ed : and though she fell short, in some things, of 
other reformed churches, especially in government, 
yet not in the truth and power of godliness, but 
rather to exceed these in such as the Lord raised 
up and enlightened among them. But herein was 
the great defect, that this lordly hierarchy was con- 



tinued after the pope was cut off, in the same calhngs 
and offices, and ruled (in a manner) by the same laws, 
and had the same power and jurisdiction over the 
whole nation, without any distinction ; all being com- 
pelled, as members of this national church, to submit 
to the form of worship established, and this govern- 
ment set over them far differing from the liberty of the 
Gospel and the practice of other reformed churches, 
who admitted only such into the church, and to par- 
take of the holy things, as manifested repentance, 
and made public confession of their faith, according 
to the Scriptures ; and had such a ministry set over 
them as themselves liked and approved of.* 

This, not only our fathers, but many in the church, 
as Ridley, a bishop and a martyr, complained of. 
And " finding the pious ministers urged with subscrip- 
tion, or silenced, and the people greatly vexed with 
the commissary courts, apparitors and pursuivants, 
which they bare sundry years with much patience, 
till they were led by the continuance and increase 
of these troubles and other means, to search and 
see further into these things through the light of 
God's word ; — how that not only the ceremonies 
were unlawful, but also the lordly and tyrannical 
power of the prelates, who contrary to the freedom 
of the Gospel would load the consciences of men, and 
by their compulsive power make a profane mixture 
of divine worship; — that their offices, courts and 
canons, were unlawful, being such as have no war- 
rant in the word of God, but were the same which 
were used in popery and still retained. Upon which 

* Bradford's History of Massachusetts. App. p. 430. 



9 

these people shake off this yoke of antichristian bond- 
age, and, as the Lord's free people, join themselves 
by covenant into a church state, to v^alk in all his 
ways, made known, or to be made known to them, 
according to their best endeavors, whatever it might 
cost them."* 

But their design, as has been said, was not merely 
to find a spot where they and their posterity might en- 
joy freedom from what they considered ecclesiastical 
tyranny ; they desired to extend the boundaries of 
Zion ; to make Christ known to the heathen ; and to 
impart to the natives of this country the blessings 
of a pure Christianity in exchange for the asylum 
which they sought for themselves. To use their 
own language, " They hoped the honor of God, of 
their king and country would be advanced by this 
settlement without injury to the native inhabitants : 
they intended to take nothing but what the Indians 
were willing to dispose of; not to interfere with them 
except for the maintenance of peace among them, 
and the propagation of Christianity." 

This noble design they attempted to realize by 
planting Congregationalism, which was at once 
church and state, — a Christian commonwealth, — a 
church exercising so much temporal power as was 
necessary to its preservation and perpetuity, — and a 
state modeled upon the idea, and deriving all its 
vitality and all its sanctions from the spiritual life of 
the church. If they erred in thus uniting, or rather 
identifying the church and state, their descendants and 
successors have corrected their mistake by separating 

* Bradford's History of Massachusetts. App. p. 429. 
b 



10 

these two things widely enough. But the church 
which they here planted, and the political organiza- 
tion which they framed in accordance with their 
religious ideas, both survive the lapse of time and the 
changes of the world, and make us acquainted with 
their view of a free commonwealth, and a truly spirit- 
ual church. 

Of their political work I do not intend to speak. 
Respecting the ecclesiastical system which they 
adopted, a few words will suffice. Congregationalism, 
— the Congregationalism of our fathers, I mean, — 
rests professedly, not partly upon the Bible and partly 
upon the devices of men, like the angel of the apoca- 
lypse, who stood with one foot upon the land and 
the other upon the sea, but directly and solely upon 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief corner stone. It recog- 
nizes the Redeemer, who gave himself that he might 
sanctify and cleanse the church by his own blood, 
and that he might present it unto himself a glorious 
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such 
thing, as the only head, and source of all authority. It 
calls the ministers of Christ brethren, and forbids them 
in the name of him who is the master of us all, to claim 
any authority or official preeminence over each other. 
It secures to the churches the right to elect those who 
are to rule over them in the Lord ; to maintain their 
own discipline and order ; and to seek their own edi- 
fication and religious welfare in the way pointed out 
by the word of God. It elevates the Bible above the 
wisdom of man, and makes all the members, from the 
least to the greatest, amenable to one tribunal, and 
responsible to one Lawgiver. It aims to give free 



11 

scope to individual piety, without encouraging pride 
of gifts, and calls into exercise the talents of all for 
the promotion of the common cause. It guarantees 
the right of private judgment in matters pertaining 
to the soul's salvation, — encouraging men to think 
freely, to act conscientiously, to search the Scriptures 
carefully, — and sets no limit to the development of 
Christian character. It presents a plain, scriptural 
Creed, which all who truly believe the Bible, and look 
to Christ alone for redemption, can assent to, and a 
form of government and of worship at once simple, 
conformable to the spirit of the Gospel, and obviously 
conducive to personal freedom, edification, and spirit- 
ual enjoyment,* It exalts the spiritual above the 
formal, without denying the use of decent forms ; 
inward worship above external rites ; obedience to 
the law of Christ above conformity to man's de- 
vices ; and God's truth above all the learning and 
philosophy of the world. It preaches to all men 
repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ as an atoning Saviour, as the great con- 
ditions of eternal life ; and when it has secured these, 
it exhorts its converts to worship and serve God ac- 
cording to the dictates of a conscience purged from 
dead works, and enlightened by the Holy Ghost. It 
has ever been a powerful ally of civil freedom, 
intelligence, general education, and true progress. 
It has infused something of its free spirit into de- 
nominations that reject its doctrines, and condemn 
its order; and those who would hmit its influence 
are often warmed and animated by its fire. It is the 

* See Cambridge Platform, 1648, and Confession of faith, 1680. 



12 

nursing queen of missions; and in the name of her 
divine Lord, calls upon all her children to aid in 
preaching the Gospel to every creature. 

Such, briefly, is the ecclesiastical system which the 
Pilgrims came to this wilderness to establish. And 
by the grace of God they accomplished their purpose. 
The congregational churches, founded by the Fathers, 
have been the glory of the land, the best expositors 
of religious rights and duties, and the gate of heaven 
to innumerable heavy laden sinners. And if the time 
shall ever come when Congregationalism shall be 
deprived of its strength, and driven from its place 
among the institutions of our country, a great light 
will be extinguished, and even those most hostile to 
it will have reason to mourn. 

What, then, was the moral, and religious charac- 
ter of those who conceived and executed a design 
so vast and so beneficial ? None who read the early 
history of New England can fail to see that the Pil- 
grim Fathers were extraordinary men ; that, viewed 
as the founders of a church and state, every thing 
about them bore the stamp of greatness ; that they 
had an energy, boldness, decision, steadfastness of 
purpose, and clearness of vision, which place them 
among the world's greatest men and best benefactors. 

But the most prominent and shining characteristic 
of those men was a deep, pure, and vigorous piety. 
They were eminently holy men. They walked by 
faith, and not by sight ; and under the severest labor, 
the most disheartening trials, the most cruel sufferings, 
endured as seeing him who is invisible. They 
reposed unwavering confidence in God and in the 
cause which they had espoused. Amidst all the 



13 

hardships to which they were continually exposed, — 
the terrors of famine, the rigor of a New England 
winter without comfortable dwellings, the wasting 
sickness which once threatened the very existence 
of the infant colony, the unprecedented labors and 
discouragements which they encountered at every 
step, — they never desponded, and never murmur- 
ed. They never expressed regret that they had un- 
dertaken to rear the tabernacle of God among the 
savages of the wilderness, nor breathed a wish, like 
the Israelites of old, to go back to the country from 
whence they came out. " We are well weaned," 
said they, "from the dehcate milk of our mother coun- 
try, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land. 
We are knit together in a strict sacred bond, to take 
care of the good of each other and of the whole. It is 
not with us as with other men, whom small things can 
discourage, or small discontents cause to wish them- 
selves at home again." They never doubted that 
the cause they had undertaken, would prosper in the 
end, or that God would glorify himself by the perma- 
nent establishment of Christianity in this new world. 
When they were brought apparently to the brink of 
destruction, and nothing appeared to the eye of sense 
but a speedy annihilation of all their hopes ; when 
He in whom they had trusted, and for whose glory 
they had made these immense sacrifices, seemed to 
frown upon their enterprise, and to disown both them 
and their work ; they never rebelled against his provi- 
dence, nor questioned his love. Oppressed, afflicted, 
cast out from the world's favor and protection, for- 
saken of man, and apparently of God also for a sea- 
son, shut in by the merciless sea, and the savage 



14 

wilderness, they prayed and sang as aforetime ; and 
in their deepest distress exclaimed with the clear 
vision and earnest faith of the Prophet, " Although 
the figtree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in 
the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the 
fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut oft' 
from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; 
yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the 
God of our salvation." Truly we may say of them 
as the apostle speaks of the elders and persecuted 
saints of old, of whom the world was not worthy, that 
theirs was a faith which subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. 

The great end of all their labor and sacrifices, was 
not, as we have seen, personal aggrandisement, but 
the glory of God. The settlement of New England 
was designed to secure a place where they and 
their children might live according to the divine 
commandments, and where they might be instru- 
mental in extending the knowlege of salvation. This 
is evident from all that they did. • Their government, 
laws, literary institutions, even the soil from which 
they gained their daily bread, were consecrated to 
Christ and the Church. Pure and undefiled relig- 
ion was all in all with them. For this they went out, 
hke Abraham, from their father's house, not knowing 
whither they went ; for this they cheerfully endured 
all the privations and hardships of the wilderness ; 
for this they sacrificed every thing dear to them in 
this life ; for this they labored, and were at any mo- 
ment ready to die. 

They reverenced the Bible. Probably there never 



15 

was a community of professing Christians who bowed 
with such profound, cheerful, and enlightened submis- 
sion to the revealed will of God. Their faith in its 
doctrines was mingled with no doubt or misgiving. 
Their obedience to its requirements was checked by 
no fear of consequences. They loved to meditate upon 
its doctrines and promises. It was infinitely more dear 
to them than any earthly good. In their wanderings it 
was their cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. In 
their afflictions it was their comforter. Its light shone 
like the shekinah in their temples. Their laws were 
framed upon its legislation. Its spirit hallowed their 
affections and their motives. Its wisdom prompted 
and sanctioned all their works. They left it as the 
most precious legacy to their children. And to their 
constant, prayerful, and systematic study of the divine 
oracles we must ascribe that clear sightedness, that 
profound wisdom, that lofty patriotism, and that per- 
severance in well doing, which so preeminently 
distinguished them. 

They regarded the Sabbath as a divine Institution. 
One reason assigned by the Plymouth colony for their 
leaving Holland, where they had been kindly received, 
and where they might have remained, was, we are 
told, that their children might not be led to adopt the 
lax notions which prevailed there, even among Chris- 
tians, in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath. They 
commenced their great work in this country with the 
deep conviction that the religion, the morals, and the 
temporal prosperity of the commonwealth were inti- 
mately connected with the right observance of this 
day. They declared in their laws that the violation 
of the fourth commandment by a community tends to 



16 

the dishonor of God, and to the reproach of rehgion, 
renders divine ordinances unprofitable, destroys the 
power of godhness, is the source of all profaneness 
and irreligion, and brings down the judgments of God 
upon the land. And their practice was consistent 
with their principles. They remembered the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy. They did every thing in their 
power to secure a strict observance of it by their chil- 
dren and the population in general. They required 
by law that the Sabbath should be kept, outwardly 
at least, by abstinence from all servile labor, unne- 
cessary travelling, and vain recreation ; and that all 
persons should attend public worship on the Lord's 
day, unless prevented by some reasonable cause. * 

For this they have been blamed by some in modern 
times. A generation has come upon the stage who 
are disposed to undo all that the Fathers did upon 
this subject. For many years there has been a grow- 
ing disregard of the Sabbath. Business and pleasure 
are allowed to disturb its quiet, to the scandal of relig- 
ion, and the grief of all Christians. And to fill up the 
measure of our folly, conventions are held, and 
newspapers established, and lecturers employed to 
convince the community that the fourth command- 
ment was never binding upon us, and that to follow 
the example of the Pilgrims is absurd and oppressive. 
I wonder what they would have thought of such a 
meeting as was held not a great while ago in the city 
of Boston, with reference to the claims of this sacred 
day. In their gloomiest moments, I am sure, they 
never dreamed that men claiming this as their native 

* General Laws, pp. 132, 133. 



17 

land, and calling themselves Christian reformers, 
would endeavor to destroy an institution which they 
deemed so essential to our temporal as well as spiritual 
prosperity. What say you, my hearers, were the Fa- 
thers right or wrong upon this subject? Shall we 
follow their example, or join with those who would 
blot out the Sabbath, and destroy all the privileges 
and blessings connected with it. 

They highly valued the ordinances of the gospel. 
They landed upon these shores as a church of Christ ; 
and their main object was to enjoy without moles- 
tation the preaching of the word, and the adminis- 
tration of the sacraments, according to their un- 
derstanding of the Divine will. And as they prosecuted 
their design of founding here a religious common- 
wealth, they adopted it as a principle, never to 
commence a settlement without a pastor to preach the 
Gospel, and to break unto them the bread of life. One 
of their first works, after fixing upon the site of a 
town, was to build a house for the worship of God. 
Poor and feeble as they were, they seem never to have 
been too poor or too feeble to find out a place for the 
Lord, — a habitation for the miglity God of Jacob. The 
towns in New England, generally, for more than a 
hundred years after the landing of the Pilgrims, did 
not average over forty families when they built their 
first house of worship, and began to enjoy the stated 
ministrations of the Gospel : and there are accounts of 
" raisings," as they are termed, where all the inhabi- 
tants of the town could sit together upon the sills of 
the house. How deeply must they have loved the 
sanctuary to be inclined to make such efforts and sac- 



18 

rifices, as in their weakness and poverty they must 
have done, in order to enjoy its privileges. 

They were men of much prayer, and communion 
with God. The greatness of their work and of their 
trials taught them the value of a throne of grace ; and 
they gathered about it, not to perform a ceremony, or 
to fulfil a duty, but to ask for the strength they needed 
in their perils and their sufferings. Perhaps there 
never was a people who sought so constantly, so 
fervently, so perscveringly, the Divine blessing upon 
their work. They undertook nothing either of a pub- 
lic or private nature without solemn prayer. They 
baptized their whole life with the spirit of supplication. 
It was this that imparted fortitude and courage to their 
hearts. It was this that bore them triumphantly through 
their hardships. It was this that gave to their religious 
character that firmness and transparency which ren- 
dered it so remarkable. It was this that crowned their 
work with success. We may safely say that no com- 
pany of prayerless men, ever exhibited the character, 
or performed the works, or enjoyed the Divine peace, 
that distinguished our Fathers. 

They were men of profound wisdom, prudence, and 
foresight. Many are accustomed to speak of the 
Pilgrims as people, whose views were bounded by a 
thorny and unintelligible creed, and whose affections 
were confined within the limits of a small and pecu- 
liar sect. Piety was, doubtless, their most prominent 
and beautiful characteristic ; and they labored with 
singular devotion for the prosperity of the church, and 
the diffusion of their religious views. But they were 
not merely pious and narrow-minded theologians. 



19 

Many of them were great men, even in the sense in 
which that phrase is used by the world. They pos- 
sessed all the elements of a sublime and illustrious 
character. They were men of highly cultivated minds. 
They had much knowledge of the world. Their plans 
were conceived and executed with great wisdom and 
prudence. They were far in advance of their age in 
sound political knowledge. They were public spirited 
men ; who lived not to themselves, but for a remote 
posterity. England at that time had not many better 
men, and it would be a grievous wrong to their mem- 
ory to compare them with the founders of Greece or 
Rome. That we do not estimate their intellectual 
character extravagantly, is evident from their works, 
— from what they accomplished. They have left their 
image and superscription upon all that we see around 
us. Here is a desert turned into a fruitful field. 
Here are institutions, religious, political, and liter- 
ary, which are adapted to secure and perpetuate the 
most precious rights of man; — institutions, which, 
with the light and experience of two centuries we have 
not changed materially, except for the worse. When 
did feeble and narrow-minded men ever conceive and 
execute a work like this ? " Do men gather grapes 
of thorns, or figs of thistles ? Wherefore by their 
fruits we may know them." 

That the Pilgrim Fathers understood the importance 
of general education in relation to the virtue, freedom, 
and happiness of society, is evident from their early 
and unwearied efforts to diffuse among the people a 
sound and healthful literature. The schoolmaster 
held, in their estimation, a place next the gospel min- 
ister ; and the school-house, in their settlements, rose 



20 

fast by the house of God. To them we owe that system 
of common school education which extends the benefits 
of knowledge to all classes, and to every man's door. 
And as soon as they had provided themselves with 
dwellings for their families, and erected convenient 
places for God's worship, while yet poor, and suffer- 
ing the want of even the common necessaries of life, 
they founded a High School, which soon became a 
flourishing College, for the advancement of learning, 
and the thorough education of their posterity; believ- 
ing that it greatly concerned the welfare of the country 
that its youth should be acquainted with good litera- 
ture, and dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the 
churches, when their first pastors were in the dust.* 

There was one element in the educational system 
of the Puritans which distinguished it, and which we 
must not pass over without remark, and that was re- 
ligion. Believing that it is " one chief object of Satan 
to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures," 
and that it was necessary to the safety of the people 
that youth should be educated in sound doctrine, as 
well as in good learning, they took care that all the 
children of the commonwealth should be taught to 
read and understand the Bible. They had but little 
confidence in knowledge without piety ; and they 
sought to perpetuate the privileges and blessings they 
had suffered so much to secure, by imbuing the minds 
of their children with the doctrines of the Gospel. 

It was with these views and feelings that they caused 
the Bible and the Catechism to be taught diligently in 
the college ; and required that all instructors of youth 

* New England's First Fruits, 1C43. 



21 

should be sound in the faith, as well as unexceptiona- 
ble in their morals.* Their deep interest and con- 
fidence in catechetical instruction was remarkable, 
even in an age when that mode of communicating 
religious truth was far more common than it is now. 
Every minister was expected to catechize all the chil- 
dren in his congregation frequently, and all parents 
were required to see that their children were prepared 
for that exercise. The selectmen of the several towns, 
also, were required to see that all heads of families 
catechized their children and domestics in the grounds 
and principles of religion at least once a week ; and 
if any were unable to do this, they were to cause such 
children and domestics to learn some short orthodox 
catechism by heart, that they might be prepared to an- 
swer the questions that should be put to them out of the 
book by their parents, or by the selectmen themselves.f 
It is to be greatly lamented that catechetical instruc- 
tion, which our Fathers felt to be so important in the 
religious education of the youth of New England, should 
be so generally laid aside as it is at the present day. 
To this is unquestionably to be attributed much of the 
the ignorance, error, and instability which has for a 
long season been so deplorably manifest among us. 
Nor will these evils be removed or diminished until 
this practice is revived, and attended to with as much 
faithfulness, diligence, and prayer, both in families and 
in the church, as in the days of the Puritans. It may 
be replied that we have the Sabbath school, which our 
Fathers had not. But Sabbath schools, beneficial as 
they are, should never be permitted to interfere with 

* General Laws, p. 136. t Ibid. p. 26. 



22 

parental or ministerial responsibility to the young ; nor 
be regarded as a substitute for thorough doctrinal and 
catechetical instruction at home. There is need of 
both, and they should go hand in hand in the great 
work of training up the rising generation in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

Such was the character of those men who turned 
the wastes of New England into fruitful fields, and 
made the wilderness to blossom as the rose. 

But it is said they had their errors. It is even so. 
To err is human. No one will maintain that they 
never believed anything that was not true, nor did 
anything that had better not have been done. But 
in what period of the world, in what nation, shall we 
find a company of men to whom was committed so 
great a work, or who have executed the task as- 
signed them, whatever it was, so nobly and so success- 
fully ? What were their errors ? They were intolerant 
bigots, says one. They were bloody persecutors, says 
another. 

The charge of bigotry is often brought against the 
Fathers of New England, by those, who of all men 
have the least right to say anything upon that sub- 
ject. The words of the Saviour to those who clam- 
ored for judgment upon the woman taken in adul- 
tery, "Let him that is without this sin among you cast 
the first stone at her," contain an admonition which 
these swift witnesses against the Puritans would do 
well to lay to heart. Moreover we may insist upon 
the evidence that the Fathers of New England were 
bigoted at all. What is bigotry ? Bigotry has been de- 
fined to be a blind partiality for a particular sect, com- 
bined with hatred of all who differ from us. If this 



23 

definition be correct, the Pilgrims were no bigots. 
They were Calvinists indeed ; and that they loved 
their own church with an affection stronger than 
death, is evident from the hardships they endured, and 
the personal sacrifices they made to plant it, and to 
sustain it in this country. But their attachment was 
not blind or foolish. They knew by experience the 
value of what they loved, and felt that the most in- 
tense affection is cold in comparison with that love 
wherewith they were loved by Him who died for them. 
Nor did they hate any man or sect for differing from 
them in opinion or practice. When the Massachu- 
setts company were about to sail from Yarmouth, they 
addressed a letter to the Christians of England which 
exhibits a most kind, liberal, benevolent, and Christian 
spirit. " We esteem it an honor," said they, " to 
call the Church of England, from whence we rise, our 
dear Mother ; and cannot part from our native coun- 
try, where she specially resideth, without much sadness 
of heart, and many tears. You are not ignorant that 
the Spirit of God stirred up the heart of the apostle 
Paul to make continual mention of Philippi, which 
was a colony of Rome. Let the same Spirit, we be- 
seech you, put you in mind to pray for us without 
ceasing, who are weak colony from yourselves, making 
request for us to God in your prayers. And so far as 
God shall enable us, we will give Him no rest on your 
behalf, wishing our heads and hearts may be as foun- 
tains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we 
shall be in our poor cottages in the wilderness, overshad- 
owed with the spirit of supplication, through the man- 
ifold necessities and tribulations which may not alto- 
gether unexpectedly, nor, we hope, unprofitably befal 



24 

us." What language to use towards a church from 
which they had received such hard measure ! If they 
could have hated any denomination of Christians, it 
would have been the Church of England. But flee- 
ing as they were from fines and imprisonment to a 
waste howhng wilderness, they pour out their prayers 
and tears for that Mother, who seemed to have closed 
her heart against some of the worthiest of her chil- 
dren, and made their lives bitter with hard bondage. 
Even Cotton Mather, who has been thought the 
straitest and most exclusive of his sect, says that 
the New England churches, though they were " shy 
of using any thing in the worship of God, for which 
they could not see a warrant in the Bible, yet swal- 
lowed up the names of Congregational, Presbyterian, 
Episcopalian, Anti-paedo Baptist, in that of Christian ; 
persons of all those persuasions being taken into 
fellowship, when visible godliness recommended 
them." * When did bigotry ever use language like 
this.? What denomination of Christians will now 
reciprocate this charitable judgment which went forth 
from the heart of Congregationalism, and which every 
true son of the Pilgrims is now ready to subscribe 
with his own hand ? 

The other charge referred to is more serious. They 
fled from persecution, it is said, and as soon as they 
obtained power, they became the merciless persecu- 
tors of all who could not agree with them in opinion 
and practice. 

This has been repeated so often, so confidently, and 
with such a plausible reference to time, place, and 

* Enchantments Encountered, p. 10. 



25 

persons, that to many it seems like an incontrovertible 
fact ; and any attempt to vindicate those much injured 
men, may be regarded as indicating great ignorance of 
their characters, or disregard of historical truth. To us, 
however, this is not clear. After a somewhat careful 
examination of the history of those troublous times 
which tried the faith, and patience, and principles of 
our Fathers, we are unable to find satisfactory evidence 
that they were ever guilty of persecuting any man, or 
body of men, on account of their religious opinions. 
That it was their first great object to establish a church 
and commonwealth upon principles, which were re- 
garded by many as exclusive; that they adopted a 
discipline which was felt by dissenters from their doc- 
trines to be severe ; that they guarded the infant 
church, which was of all things in this world dearest to 
their hearts, and which they perilled all their hopes on 
earth to plant firmly upon this soil, with a jealousy 
very inconvenient to those who hated it ; and that they 
were at times severe in the punishment of those who 
intentionally violated the religious or civil order of the 
country, no one will deny. But that they were perse- 
cutors of good men, in the proper sense of that word, 
cannot be shown from the undisputed record of their 
public acts; and even the jealousy of dissent, and 
severity of discipline which are complained of, find an 
ample apology in the circumstances under which they 
were obliged to act. 

What is persecution? There is much vagueness 
and confusion of thought in the public mind in rela- 
tion to this question ; and every man who suffers in 
mind, body, or estate, from the doings of church or 
d 



26 

commonwealth, is called a martyr by the multitude, 
who do not discriminate between the sentence of a 
wise and necessary law, and an act of wanton cruelty. 
We may learn what persecution is from the consola- 
tion which the Saviour administers to those who are 
objects of it. " Blessed are they which are persecu- 
ted for righteousness' sake ; for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, 
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely, for tny sake.^'' This passage re- 
quires us, in all cases, to examine the character and 
acts of those who suffer, as well as of those against 
whom the charge of persecution is brought. 

The persecutor is a man who hates truth, and good 
men ; who uses his power to harass and distress 
those who seek only to enjoy inalienable rights, and 
to do the work which God has assigned them; who 
endeavors by fines, imprisonment, and death, to 
suppress the doctrines of the Gospel, and to destroy 
the liberty with which Christ has made men free. 
Every act of undue severity, or even injustice, is 
not persecution. To imprison or hang a man for vio- 
lating the laws of the state; to excommunicate a her- 
etic from the church ; to expel a disturber of the peace 
from the society which he would subvert, — is not to 
persecute him. It is an old and sound remark, that 
it is not the kind or degree of suffering which a man 
may endure, but the cause which makes a martyr. 
Men complain that they are objects of relentless per- 
secution, because they are not permitted to promul- 
gate by the tongue and pen any doctrines which 
they have adopted, or are involved in difficulties 



27 

by the violation of the fundamental principles of 
the government under which they live : as if every 
opinion of theirs is an eternal truth which all 
men are bound to reverence, and every action 
the result of a pure conscience, which it would 
be a sin against God and humanity to discount- 
enance. But the Saviour promises a blessing only 
upon those who suffer for righteousness^ sake. It 
is not a man's own opinion, but Christ's truth, 
that is the proper object of persecution. Men can- 
not be martyrs, except as witnesses for God and 
his cause. 

They must also be good men. " Blessed are ye," 
says the Saviour, " when men shall revile you, and 
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you 
falsely.'^'' A man must not give occasion for any one 
to speak evil of him. " If a man suffer as a Christian," 
says the apostle, " let him not be ashamed. But let 
none of you suffer as a inurderer, or as a thief, or as a 
busy-body in other meti's matters : for what glory is it, if 
when ye be buffetted for your faults, ye shall take it pa- 
tiently?"* " Having your conversation honest among 
the Gentiles, and having agood conscience, that whereas 
they speak evil of you, as evil doers, they may be 
ashamed that j^^/se/?/ accuse your good conversation in 
Christ." t If, then, a man professing to be a Christian, 
acts inconsistently with his profession ; if he does not 
submit to the law of Christ; if he exhibits the spirit of 
Cain or of Korah, and receives a just recompense 
for the wrong that he has done, we are not to 
consider him a martyr, nor feel much compassion 

* 1 Peter, iv. 15, 16. t 1 Peter, ii. 12. 



28 

for his sufferings. The act by which he suffers is not 
persecution, but punishment. It falls not upon right- 
eousness and truth, but upon crime, which the law 
ought to punish wherever it appears. We should 
not regard the clamor of such sufferers. Shall 
men of perverse minds be permitted to plead their 
religion as an excuse for their evil deeds, and when 
they suffer as wrong-doers, to complain that they 
are persecuted ? Shall the wolf in sheep's clothing 
be looked upon as a martyr, because he is driven 
by force from the fold, or has an iron collar placed 
about his neck ? 

It is well also to examine the temper manifested by 
those who complain that they are persecuted. Our 
Saviour points out the graces by which his martyrs 
are adorned ; a heavenly wisdom which is pure, 
peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy 
and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypoc- 
risy ; a divine patience that complains to none but 
God ; a holy courage that fears nothing but sin ; 
a pure zeal that burns like the fire kindled from heaven 
upon the altar of sacrifice ; above all, a charity that 
thinketh no evil, that rejoiceth not in iniquity but in 
the truth, that will pity, and forgive, and bless, and 
pray for the guilty persecutor, and will not fail even 
at the stake or upon the cross. With such a temper 
the blood of the martyr becomes the seed of the 
church. 

Now let us judge our Fathers and their acts of al- 
leged persecution, by these plain Gospel principles. 
When it is said that they fled from persecution, and 
as soon as they obtained power, began to persecute 
all who differed from them in opinion, we should ask 



29 

ourselves again, who our Fathers were, — what was 
their position, — what were the circumstances in which 
they were called to act, — and who were the objects 
of their severity. 

The Pilgrim Fathers were not, as we have seen, or 
may easily learn, haters of truth, or of good men. 
They were not revilers of those who endeavored to 
keep a conscience void of offence towards God and 
towards man. They were not enemies of that king- 
dom of righteousness and peace which Christ came to 
establish in this world. On the contrary, they were 
men who feared God, — who submitted with child-like 
docility to the Law of Christ, — who loved the cause of 
religion more than father, or mother, or country, — who 
rejoiced in all the successes of the church, — who 
blessed God for the partial reformation of the body from 
which they were at last compelled to separate, — who 
longed and prayed for the coming of Christ's kingdom 
in power, — and who could say respecting Zion and her 
sons, as David said of Jerusalem, " If I forget thee, 
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not re- 
member thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
mouth : if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 
How could such men harbor the spirit of persecu- 
tion, or use their power to crush and destroy any faith- 
ful servant of Jesus Christ ? 

They came to this country, as I have said, in or- 
der to organize a religious community, according to 
what they believed the Law of Christ sanctioned and 
required ; to worship God in the forms which they 
judged most conducive to religious enjoyment and 
spiritual edification ; to train up their children in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and to spread 



30 

a pure gospel among the benighted tribes that 
roamed through these forests. In order to real- 
ize their object, they abandoned the soil which gave 
them birth. They left Christendom to build the church 
of God in its own way. They chose a spot for their 
purpose, far from the civilized world, — a spot to which 
no nation could lay a higher claim than their own, 
founded as it was upon prior occupancy, and actual 
purchase of the wild tribes that sometimes used it for 
hunting. They invaded nobody's rights; "they got not 
the land in possession by their sword," but in a manner 
that all the world must pronounce just. And they 
asked of their fellow-men nothing but to be allowed 
the privilege of carrying out their own principles upon 
their own soil, and of regulating the affairs of their 
church and state, according to their views of truth 
and duty. 

And with what spirit and temper did they proceed 
to execute their great design ? First of all, their char- 
ter declared expressly, that there should always be lib- 
erty of conscience in matters of religion. Then they 
declared that all the people of God who were orthodox 
in judgment, and not scandalous in life, should have 
full liberty to gather themselves into a church estate, 
provided they did it in a Christian way, observing the 
rules of Christ revealed in his word, and with the ap- 
probation of the magistrates, and of the elders of the 
neighboring churches; and that every church should 
freely enjoy all the ordinances of God, according to 
the rules of the Gospel. And, finally, they announced 
to the world, that all strangers professing the Christian 
religion, who should flee to this colony from the tyr- 
anny of their oppressors, should be succored accord- 



31 

ing to their utmost ability.* These provisions, all 
must allow, were as hberal as the condition and ob- 
jects of the colony could possibly permit. 

It is true that while they professed to maintain the 
inviolability of conscience in matters of religion, they 
regarded those who obstinately promulgated doctrines 
subversive of the Christian faith, destructive to the 
souls of men, and dangerous to society, as enemies of 
the commonwealth; and therefore they passed laws 
designed to restrain or punish such persons.f 
They were willing that all persons within their juris- 
diction, whether inhabitants or strangers, should enjoy 
the same law and justice that was general for their 
colony, in all cases proper to their cognizance, with- 
out partiality or delay ; J but at the same time they 
ordered that all who endeavored to destroy or disturb 
the peace of the churches here established, by openly 
renouncing or reviling their church estate, or their 
ministry, or any ordinance dispensed in them, should 
be punished with fine, imprisonment, or banishment, 
according to the exigences of the case.|| 

Under such laws, which they not only had a perfect 
right to enact, but which were obviously required by 
the condition of the colony, a few persons who came 
into the country with no respect for the government, 
or good-will toward the churches, might have suf- 
fered some inconvenience. When they felt them- 
selves bound to oppose publicly the religious order 
here established, and to disobey the laws of the 
state, they were compelled to endure the priva- 
tion of accustomed privileges, or to withdraw from 

* General Laws, p. 143. t lb. p. 39. J lb. p. 143. || lb. p. 45. 



32 

the jurisdiction ; which they always had perfect 
liberty to do. Those members of the church of 
England who had found their way to the colony, 
were not allowed to observe publicly the forms of that 
church ; and Thomas Lechford, who thanked God 
that he " understood by experience, that there is no 
such government for Englishmen, or any nation, as a 
monarchy ; nor for Christians, as by a lawful ministry 
under godly diocesan bishops, deducing their station 
and calling from Christ and his apostles, in descent 
or succession," complained that he suffered much 
by reason of not being able to agree to the dis- 
cipline here established; being "kept from the sa- 
crament, and all place of preferment in the com- 
monwealth, and forced to get a living by writing 
petty things, which scarce found him bread."* 

The Baptists, also, were doubtless subject to incon- 
veniences which must have been somewhat galling. 
When a Baptist church was gathered in opposition 
to a law of the colony above referred to, the mem- 
bers were summoned before the magistrates, and for- 
bidden to proceed ; but refusing to obey the law, 
and persevering in their purpose to organize them- 
selves into a church, some of them were imprison- 
ed for contempt, and some were ordered to depart 
from the colony, f But this act, it will be ob- 
served, however harsh it may seem, had no relation 
to their opinions upon the subject of baptism, but 
to their actual violation of the laws. The condition 
of Baptists, as well as of Episcopalians, was, no 
doubt, unpleasant, under a government so thoroughly 

* Plain Dealing, p. 68, 69. t Bradford's Hist. Mass. p. 68. 



33 

congregational ; but we hear of nothing hke the per- 
secution of them merely on account of their religious 
opinions. That the government had a legal right by 
their charter to establish a church polity which they 
deemed conformable to the word of God ; to forbid 
formsof worship which they judged to be unscriptural; 
and to insist that if churches were gathered here, they 
should be organized in accordance with the ecclesias- 
tical system which they had adopted amidst so many 
trials and hardships, no one can doubt. It might have 
been injudicious ; it might have been contrary to 
sound policy ; but it was not persecution. The error 
of our Fathers, if they were in error upon this point, 
consisted, says Bradford, in assuming that they had 
at last discovered the true meaning of revelation, and 
that it was their duty to allow no deviations from 
it.* But the historian himself, while he condemns 
their strict discipline and government in some cases, 
and their severity towards those who would not 
conform to their usages, admits that the toleration 
pleaded for would have been fatal to the design which 
they had in view. They came to America, he says, un- 
der great privations, after long persecutions, to enjoy 
their own forms of worship, which they believed to be in 
accordance with the word of God. And had they not 
been select in receiving new comers, and in reject- 
ing the turbulent and schismatic, their object would 
have been entirely defeated, and the colony probably 
broken up.f So that the great question is, whether the 
end they had in view in coming to this country, was of 
importance enough to the church and to the world, 

* Bradford's History of Massacliusetts. p. 50. tibid. p. 33. 



34 

to be secured by laws which subjected a few dis- 
senters to such privations as have been complained 
of. Who will say that the unlimited toleration de- 
manded, subversive as it must have been of the great 
object of our Fathers, would have been better than the 
New England which they left us as an inheritance ? 

But there are cases of greater alleged oppression 
and persecution, which are often referred to as evi- 
dence that the Puritans cherished a bitter and relent- 
less hostility against all who differed from them in 
opinion. I allude to the banishment of Roger Williams ; 
the imprisonment, banishment, and capital punishment 
of the Quakers ; the dispersion of the company at Mount 
Wollaston ; and the punishment of some others, re- 
specting which I wish to say a few words. I do not 
refer to the " trial of the witches," because that melan- 
choly excitement does not properly belong to this 
place. 

Of Roger Williams I desire to speak with all suitable 
respect. He came to Massachusetts a congrega- 
tional minister of no mean standing, and by his tal- 
ents and learning soon acquired considerable influ- 
ence among the people. That he was a lover of 
freedom, and capable of great usefulness in church 
and state, will not be denied. It was doubtless very 
grievous to him that he was obliged to leave the colony 
at all, especially in the dead of winter, though he was 
furnished with money, it is said, from Governor Win- 
throp's purse to defray the expenses of his journey. 
But it is proper to remark that he was regarded, even 
by his best friends, as " an eccentric man," greatly 
" wanting in prudence and stability of character," 
" very precipitate and passionate," and easily carried 



35 

away by "extravagant theories." He professed, in 
later life, to be a Baptist; but he was not banished 
for being a Baptist. His opinions in relation to the 
mode or subjects of baptism, had no influence what- 
ever in drawing down upon him the indignation of 
the government. He was required to leave the col- 
ony because he was a disturber of the public peace, 
and dangerous to the well-being of the church. 

In what way he became obnoxious to the charge 
of being an enemy of the commonwealth, whom 
it was necessary to get rid of, will appear by a 
brief reference to some of the dangerous doctrines 
which he promulgated in spite of all the kind and 
friendly efforts which were made to persuade him to 
desist. He violently opposed the whole civil and 
ecclesiastical order which he found established here. 
He denied the validity of the government's title to the 
soil founded on the royal charter ; and, although every 
foot of land, occupied by the people, had been actually 
purchased and paid for, maintained that the Indians 
were the only true proprietors of the country. He 
denied the right of the civil authority to make laws 
for the punishment of any breach of the fourth com- 
mandment which did not disturb the public peace. 
He maintained that it was unlawful to administer an 
oath to an unregenerate man ; and that it was wrong 
even to pray with unconverted people, though they 
were wife and children. He wrote letters to the 
churches complaining bitterly of the injustice and op- 
pression of the magistrates, the direct tendency of 
which was to excite disaffection among the people 
against the government. He advised his own church 
at Salem to renounce communion with all the church- 



36 

es in the colony, as full of antichrist and corruption. 
He condemned all who would not join with him in 
anathematizing the church of England. And in the 
expression and maintenance of his opinions, he was 
violent, denunciatory, and abusive. With all his good 
qualities, he was, by his position, learning, and tal- 
ents, a dangerous subject of the new government, and 
a destroyer of the peace of the infant churches : and as 
it was impossible to convince, satisfy, or reclaim him, 
he was required to depart out of the jurisdiction as the 
only means of restoring quiet ; a sentence, which, 
considering the provocation he gave, was remarkably 
lenient and mild.* 

The treatment of the Quakers has often been rep- 
resented as unreasonable, and unmercifully severe. 
But who were the Quakers, that their sufferings 
should awaken a sympathy which cannot be aroused 
by the afflictions of the Puritans ? It cannot be pre- 
tended that they suffered for righteousness' sake ; for 
no one who reads their history can discover any reli- 
gion at all either in their creed or their temper. 
Unlike tlie Friends of the present day, they were 
fanatics of the wildest and most dangerous charac- 
ter, who came to this country for the express pur- 
pose of overthrowing, if possible, the existing gov- 
ernment. They outrageously reviled both ministers 
and magistrates ; and denounced the judgments of 
God upon the people if they did not oppose and resist 
their rulers. They grossly violated the laws of de- 
cency and decorum as well as of the state, sometimes 
rushing into churches on the Sabbath, in a state of 

* See Wintlirop's Journal, pp. 84, 88. 



31 

shameful nudity, and making outcries which were as 
blasphemous as they were exciting. 

Knowing the mischief they had done in England, 
the Court passed a law that no Quaker should be 
landed from any ship, or harbored by any person in the 
colony. But this not being sufficient to prevent them 
from swarming like " rogues and vagabonds," into 
the country, other laws were enacted subjecting them 
to whipping, branding, imprisonment, and banish- 
ment. Even these severe modes of punishment were 
found insufficient to abate the nuisance ; and at length 
a law was made, subjecting any Quaker, who should 
return to the colony after having been four times con- 
victed and sent away, to the punishment of death.* 
Under this law, four, I believe, were sentenced to be 
hung. One was reprieved upon condition of depart- 
ing out of the colony. Another refused to save his hfe 
in this way, though earnestly exhorted to do so, choos- 
ing rather to die, than to submit to the authority of the 
government, which he had done so much to disturb. 
Several others were punished less severely ; but all 
who are now held up as martyrs, suffi9red as evil 
doers of the most incorrigible character, whom it 
would have been madness to permit to go at large 
among the people. If we should think their pun- 
ishment too severe, we cannot call it persecution 
without an unpardonable abuse of language. 

Indeed, when we consider the unofovernable malic- 
nity, the blasphemous doctrines, and the rebelhous con- 
duct of those fanatics, in connexion with the weakness 
of the colony at that early period, we can hardly say that 
their punishment was too severe. The Government 

* General Laws, p. 60, 71, 62, 63. 



38 

was evidently disposed, as they themselves declare, to 
use as much lenity as vi^as consistent with their safety; 
and resorted to extreme measures only when they 
found that mild ones were unavailing.* Even now, 
when we boast that every man is free to utter any 
opinions he pleases, there is a limit to the develop- 
ment of fanatacism and infidelity. Blasphemy is pun- 
ished by our own courts with imprisonment ; and all 
opinions, and practices which violate the peace of 
society, and become dangerous to the public morals, 
are suppressed by the strong arm of the law, without 
subjecting our government to the charge of persecu- 
tion, except among rogues and vagabonds. 

In regard to Gorton, and the "nest of revellers " at 
Mount Wollaston, as Mr. Adams calls them, a word 
must suffice. They were the declared enemies of the 
colony. They had neither religion nor honesty. 
They neither feared God, nor regarded man. Their 
conduct was lawless, desperate, and utterly inconsist- 
with the public safety. They furnished the savages 
with weapons and " strong water," and endeavored to 
involve them in war with the whites. " Toleration in 
those cases, would have been self-murder." In the 
case of these men, and of many others who sufTer- 
ed under the government of the early Puritans, 
there was neither persecution, cruelty, nor injustice. 
They were not, like our Fathers, harassed for not 
doing what the state, according to the Law of Christ, 
had no right to require, but properly punished for 
doing what both law and gospel alike forbade. They 
suffered, not for their religious opinions, nor for their 

* General Laws, p. 62. 



39 

obedience to Christ, but for wilful resistance to a gov- 
ernment founded upon the Bible ; not for religion, but 
for rebellion ; not for truth, but for treason. They 
resisted the ordinance of God, and received to them- 
selves the damnation which they obstinately incurred.* 
But I will vindicate the Puritans no farther. They 
had their faults, you say. Be it so. The sun has its 
spots, but nevertheless it fills the world with light. 
Our Fathers were men ; but what men ! In what 
country or age of the world can you find their 
superiors ? In the language of an old writer, " God 
sifted three kingdoms to obtain wheat for the plant- 
ing of New England." A divine blessing rested 
upon their habitations. They finished the work 
that was given them to do: and we may say 
with Nicodemus, that none could have done the 
things which they did, except God were with them. 
" May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with 
our Fathers." And that He may not leave us nor for- 
sake us, let us cultivate the ardent and humble piety 
which characterized the Puritans. Let us enthrone 
the word of God in our hearts. Let us maintain the 
ordinances of the Gospel in their purity and simplicity. 
Let us cherish a spirit of prayer. Let us attend to 
the thorough religious education of our children. Let 
us remember that the work of preserving, if not 
as difficult, is as necessary as that of building up. 
Let us not forget that we are to transmit this in- 
heritance to our posterity. Our Fathers, through 
faith and patience are now inheriting the prom- 
ises. Soon we shall join the congregation of the 

• Rom. xiii. 2. 



40 

dead, leaving to our children a land consecrated to 
Christ and the church. May we leave it with the 
assurance, that it has not been diminished in value in 
our hands. And may we rise at the last day with our 
Fathers, whose memory we honor, and whose faith 
we follow, to join with them, and with all who have 
come out of great tribulation, in ascribing blessing, 
and honour, and glory, and power unto Him who sit- 
teth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever. 



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